Google Maps suggested a slightly different route than the one I’m
taking. It will add a few miles, but shouldn’t be too far off from
Google’s routing and gains some mileage in a nice long stretch of 40
across Tennessee. I wonder if I can swing by South Carthage and take
a picture of the shack my sister and brother and law rented from the
Gore family. (Yes, that Gore family.)
I’ve noticed Google’s times are off, too, as you’ll see when you start looking at photos/galleries.
Either way, in a nutshell: Leaving Oxford, going to I-40 westbound
eventually.taking I-40 west to Nashville then cutting up I-24, I-57,
and I-64 to St. Louis.
I’ll drive through St. Louis, cutting across town on a couple of major
highways to pick up I-70 and head west through a whoooole bunch of
flat,
I’ll go through Kansas City, and Topeka, past Junction City and
Salinas, and a host of towns with names like Hayes and WaKeeney and
Oakley, Kansas. Just the other side of Goodland, Kansas, I’ll cross in
to Colorado.
More small towns as I begin ascending the continental divide toward
Denver, where I zip right past the I-470 exit to I-25 north because
it’s a $7.00 toll. Stay on 70 to downtown Denver and hang a right to
the north on I-25. Next stop (after going through Fort Collins):
Cheyenne, Wyoming.
Here, I find I-80 west and begin the last of the three big legs of
the ‘tour.’ I’ll head west through Laramie and a couple of smaller
towns, over the first ‘bigger’ set of mountains I believe, and just
past Evanston I’ll cross another state line and enter Utah for the
first time in my life.
In Utah I will hopefully stop and crash on Chad Bryant’s couch ;-)
But leaving that aside, I’ll continue out of SLC west until I get to
Davis, just the other side of Sacramento, and then take a street-level
route to the Apartment in Winter.
The entire trip will, near as I can tell, take 2,601 miles over the
course of about 80 hours, with nine gas stops adding up to about $350.